Traditionally, front sight posts have been placed on the tip of the discharge end of a firearm barrel, and are usually oriented in one of two ways. A first way in which a front sight post is oriented is such that is vertically positioned with a very small column that is round or square in cross section, and perpendicular to the longitudinal axis of the firearm barrel. A second way in which a front sight post is oriented is such that is horizontally aligned with the longitudinal axis of the firearm barrel and has a cylindrical shaped so that the shooter sees the sight in cross-section, in which it appears to be a round dot when aligned with a rear aiming sight of the firearm. Regardless of the shape of the front sight post, the shooter visually aligns the front sight post of the firearm with both the target and a gap, hole, etc of the same or similar shape on the rear aiming sight of the firearm.
A shortcoming of known front aiming sight posts for firearms is that their overall configuration (e.g., their shape and size) serves little function that aids in accuracy when a target is not in close proximity to a firearm on which the sight is mounted. More specifically, although the sight may allow the shooter to establish a line of sight (or referred to in shooting parlance as ‘line of aim’) from the rear sight through the front sight post to the target, it does nothing to help the shooter estimate the distance to the target, nor does it indicate to the shooter how much to raise the barrel of the firearm above the line of aim in order to hit a distant target. The amount that the tip of the barrel needs to be raised to hit a distant target is referred to as BDC (bullet drop compensation).
Many magnified and unmagnified scopes and non-optical sights include a feature for providing BDC functionality. Such a BDC-providing feature on a firearm scope or sight (i.e., a sighting apparatus), when it is included, is usually an integral feature instead of a separate device. A BDC device (i.e., a device that provides for BDC functionality) can be used to predict a curvilinear trajectory of a given projectile propelled by a specific ammunition, shot toward a certain distant target from a particular firearm, and within a certain set of environmental conditions. These are a partial collection of factors by which the curvilinear trajectory can be determined, as there are additional factors that can influence such determination. Therefore, it is of particular importance to emphasize that when any one of a multitude of factors changes, a BDC device that previously worked with high degree of accuracy may be of limited or no aid in assisting the shooter in hitting a distant target.
It must also be noted that a BDC device is essentially worthless without a method to estimate distance to a target. Although, many manufacturers apparently expect shooters to accurately estimate how far it is to a distant target because BDC devices typically do not have an integral means for reliably determining or estimating distance to a target. To demonstrate why a distance measuring function is essential, the theoretical example of a target at 200 yards and 300 yards will be compared. Assuming that an average firearm has been adjusted to accurately hit a target at 200 yards using a fixed sight on the firearm (i.e., sighted-in at 200 yards), and the same firearm was then shot at a target at 300 yards without any changes in the adjustments to the fixed sight, the point of impact on the target at 300 yards can be more than eight inches below the center, assuming all other factors are the same and there is no operator error. At 400 yards, the error can be in excess of 24 inches, whereby if the target was close to the ground, the projectile could impact the ground long before it got to the target.
Therefore, a front sight configured to help a shooter of a weapon estimate distance to a target and to indicate to the shooter how much to raise the barrel of the weapon for above the line of aim for BDC would overcome shortcomings associated with known gun sights thereby making it advantageous, desirable and useful.